


Backrooms

by ethereousdelirious



Category: Alice in Wonderland (Movies - Burton)
Genre: Dentistry, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gratuitous German, HatTime, M/M, Teeth, Toothache, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 19:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17086256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ethereousdelirious/pseuds/ethereousdelirious
Summary: (Commission for one of my followers on Tumblr) Tarrant has a toothache but is deeply terrified of the dentist and refuses to do anything about it. Time is having none of this.





	Backrooms

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first commission ever! I'm really excited about it and i hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

“Not eating?” Time asked over the top of his book, a thick tome that he was mostly holding onto for show. He generally considered himself much too busy to waste valuable effort on such trivial pursuits as _reading_ , but he found he needed something to do with his hands whenever he accompanied Tarrant to breakfast (which was quite often these days).

“ _You_ don’t eat,” the Hatter said, a touch petulantly. He took a dignified sip of tea and winced slightly, wrinkling up his nose.

Time raised an eyebrow, his eyes flashing a keen blue.

“Hot,” Tarrant explained, squirming under Time’s intense gaze.

Time dismissed this obvious fabrication, as the steam had long since stopped rising from the fine china cups on the table, but he opted to let it go, regarding the odd behavior as yet another one of Tarrant’s little quirks. He had rather a lot of those.

Instead, Time just leaned in and ruffled Tarrant’s hair, splitting his attention between pretending to read and absentmindedly tracing his fingers down Tarrant’s neck and back.

“That tickles!” Tarrant said, squirming but making no effort to pull away.

“What does?” Time asked with faux-innocence, not looking away from the book.

“ _This!”_ The Hatter extended an arm and drew teasing lines down Time’s neck, stopping just short of Time’s gears in their perpetual motion. He laughed devilishly when Time shuddered, but stopped abruptly, every last trace of mirth dying on his face. He drew a hand down the length of his jaw. He couldn’t exactly go pale behind his natural pallor, but that was the impression Time got as the Hatter’s green eyes gave way to orange for a moment and his brow furrowed.

“What’s the matter?” Time asked, finally abandoning his book.

“Nothing!” Tarrant looked at him, wide-eyed and innocent, the right corner of his mouth quirked in an unconvincingly wan smile.

Time frowned, fully prepared to pursue the subject, when a sudden jolt passed through him. It was painless, something that came with being the measure by which all of Underland set their clocks. Time was running late. He stood up, almost knocking his chair over. “ _Ach,_ I forgot _._ Elyn Edgecombe is supposed to be having triplets today. I have to go--” He rushed off, leaving Tarrant alone.

 

Tarrant sat there alone at the table for a while, kicking his legs and trying not to panic. It was easy enough to ignore the stabbing ache in his jaw if he just sat still and didn’t speak or smile overmuch. That was fine. He just had to be still and ignore the pain until it went away.

Which it would. It had to.

Because the alternative was going to the…

Even thinking the word d-e-n-t-i-s-t made him want to squirm and panic, so he quickly gave himself a mission: Go find Time and see if he needed any help catching up on work.

He was _always_ running late.

Tarrant hurried off down one of the castle’s many long corridors, steadfastly ignoring the pain that pulsed through his mouth as the walking brought his heart rate up.

He didn’t necessarily make a habit of checking his teeth in the mirror, with the result that whenever he checked for the source of the pain, he couldn’t figure out what, if anything, was different. All he knew was that one of the teeth on the bottom right of his jaw, the sort of pointy one just in front of his molars, had started hurting quite badly a few days ago and nothing he did had seemed to help it.

Wait.

Tarrant screeched to a stop in the corridor.

He was supposed to be _ignoring_ the pain. Out loud, he giggled nervously and tried to think of something more pleasant: tea, or a perfectly-fitted hat, or Time’s smile.

Speaking of Time… Tarrant frowned. He knew where Time was, but not how to get there. Or, no. He knew how to get there, but not where Time was. No. that didn’t make sense either.

The Hatter frowned and drew one hand thoughtfully over his chin, stopping with a hiss when it made the pain in his tooth flare up.

Then he dusted himself off and carried on his way, picking up and setting his feet down in a decisive march of the non-hare variety. He knew where Time was _and_ how to get there. That was better.

 

As expected, he found Time in one of his workshops, bent over a table and tinkering away with 3 small elaborate somethings, muttering to himself in a language Tarrant didn’t understand. Tarrant knew Time wasn’t much likely to notice him unless he announced his presence but he didn’t quite feel up to moving his mouth. Instead, he coughed lightly.

Time didn’t even flinch, only picked up a small, delicate-looking instrument and used it to tweak an ever smaller, even more delicate looking instrument.

Tarrant was wise enough to let him finish before trying again, clearing his throat in a way that made him sound disturbingly like his father: “Er- _hem_.”

“Hm?” Time looked up, directing his gaze knee-level, about where Wilkins’ face would be. “ _Was ist los_?” Then his eyes focused upward. “Oh.” He floundered, not wanting his work to be disturbed, but equally loathe to shoo Tarrant away like he was some sort of nuisance. He compromised by continuing his work and talking at the same time. “Yes?” he asked, trying to remember what he had been working on before the interruption.

A movement from the doorway indicated that Tarrant was waggling his fingers in a playful wave. Time jerked his head to indicated that Tarrant could come in and continued trying to maneuver a small brass screw into its appointed hole. It fell out and he sighed, venting a large amount of steam into the air.

“Need help?” Tarrant ventured to ask. It didn’t hurt, so he smiled. That did. He frowned.

Time gave him an odd look. “Are you alright?”

Tarrant just stuck out his hand and gestured, indicating that Time should give him the watch, the screw, and the screwdriver. Time obliged him, anxiously watching that the tiny screw didn’t slip through either of their fingers. It didn’t. Tarrant screwed it into place with an expert precision and handed the incomplete watch back to Time, who placed it on the table and ran his hands through his hair, disturbing several locks which got caught on his rings and fell to frame his face

“Thank you,” he said with some difficulty. “I _hate_ being in a rush.” His hand fluttered over the clock in his chest.

Tarrant raised his eyebrows sympathetically.

“Not talking much today,” Time grumbled, continuing to tinker with the watch.

Tarrant did a complicated finger waggle-eyebrow wiggle to communicate something along the lines of _I’m just mysterious like that_.

Time dismissed this with a fond roll of the eyes and blew a few strands of hair out of his face.

Tarrant reached out for Time, but he was already engrossed in his watches again with little patience for distractions.

Tarrant watched silently as Time worked on the three watches, his movements well-practiced but methodical; never once did he let his attention wander except to occasionally wrinkle his nose against loose strands of hair and unsuccessfully try to shake them out of his face.

Finally, Tarrant decided to put him out of his misery and endeavored to speak without hurting himself. “Let me help.”

Time acknowledged this with the faintest of nods. Tarrant wasn’t even certain he heard, but he didn’t flinch at the feel of Tarrant’s hands in his hair. In fact, he sighed happily at Tarrant’s touch and his shoulders relaxed a little as Tarrant combed through his hair with his fingers.

“Thank you, _Süßer.”_ Time reached around to admire the Hatter’s handiwork, a braided top knot which kept his hair slicked back and out of the way. He half-rose to give Tarrant a kiss on the cheek, and blinked in surprise when Tarrant gave a cry of pain and flinched away.

“What’s wrong?” Time touched his lips. “Did I shock you?”

Tarrant was horrified to find that his eyes were watering. He wiped them surreptitiously but Time noticed, as their faces were only about two inches apart if that. He glanced reluctantly at his watches, then back at Tarrant who was wiping away still more tears, then back at the watches.

He sighed heavily, sending up plumes of steam, and decided that Elyn Edgecombe’s triplets were just going to have to wait.

“Out with it.”

“Out with what?” Tarrant said, careful to keep his teeth from touching together.

Time tapped his cheek a little more forcefully than he meant to, and Tarrant’s look of utter betrayal was enough to send a physical pain through his chest. More tears welled up in Tarrant’s eyes and his breath hitched up into something dangerously close to a sob. “I don’t mean to distract you from your work,” he said, fighting to keep his voice even. “I’ll find something to do with myself.”

Time just looked at him, the triplet watches all but forgotten. “Just talk to me.”

“Can’t. Scared.”

“Of me?” Time was horrified at the thought, and equally relieved when Tarrant shook his head. “Of what?” But Tarrant stubbornly shook his head. Time seem poised to continue, but another pang like the one from this morning made his shoulders shake in a silent reminder that he had work to do. He gave Tarrant a somewhat hard look, then looked back at the watches. “Explain it to me while I work?” he implored.

Tarrant shook his head forcefully. “Mm-mm.”

Time gave him his best kicked puppy look, which wasn’t very good. “Please? You’re in pain.”

“It’ll go away,” Tarrant said unconvincingly

Time wanted to press the subject, but somewhere inside him, something sparked insistently. “ _Alright_ , alright!” he said out loud, and turned back to the watches. To Tarrant, he said, “I’m not dropping this.”

 

Tarrant took the opportunity to sneak out while Time was occupied and wandered the castle listlessly for a while. He wasn’t much in the mood to do anything. His tooth hurt to the point that the gum around it was sensitive, and the rest of his jaw was starting to ache down to the neck from having been held so stiffly for so long.

And Time, sweet concerned Time certainly wasn’t going to let it go, not for the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world.

Tarrant screwed up his face and decided to find a way out of this situation.

 

He was still thinking when Time found him in the sitting room. Tarrant jumped, which only succeeded in jarring his sore tooth, leaving him teary-eyed and no closer to escape than he had been before.

Time, for his part, couldn’t decide whether to be concerned (that Tarrant was in pain) or irritated (that Tarrant was in pain and lying about it), and found himself vacillating between both like a metronome set to _molto allegro_. Unable to focus on his work, he’d come looking for the Hatter, determined to find out what was wrong and fix it.

“Please just tell me what’s the matter,” he said, throwing himself down in an armchair, a task that was much easier when he wasn’t vested in his usual shoulderpads and long robes. Tarrant had talked him out of wearing them when he wasn’t expecting important visitors (which was usually), and he was all the more comfortable and mobile for it. “Tell me what the problem is and I’ll do everything in my power to make it better.” He hesitated, thinking of the Chronosphere. “Within reason.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tarrant pleaded, but even as he did so, he was feathering two fingers down the length of his jaw.

Time watched this and frowned, struggling to put the pieces together. “Your mouth?” he guessed.

The Hatter just stared at him, wide-eyed. Then he nodded just a little.

“Mouth,” Time repeated thoughtfully, trying to think of things that could go wrong with someone’s mouth. Prior to the little Chronosphere incident, he hadn’t known pain save for the occasional stubbed toe or stress headache. “Teeth?” he guessed.

Tarrant flinched and Time recalled a word he’d heard somewhere but had no use for until now. “Toothache,” he said, with all the grave triumph of a police detective unravelling a double murder. “Am I close?”

Tarrant nodded again and Time realized with a twist of concern in his chest that he was shaking.

“I don’t understand,” he said plainly.

“I don’t want to see the d--” Tarrant shuddered. “Dentist.”

“Dentist?” Time considered the word. It wasn’t one he’d ever had cause to consider in much depth before. “ _Zahnartzt_ ,” he muttered to himself. “A doctor for teeth?”

Tarrant nodded, white with fear. He held out his arms for a hug and Time more than obliged, scooping the Hatter up into his arms and settling him into his lap in an armchair. Stuffing two grown men into an armchair wasn’t an easy feat, but Time managed it through an artful, if slightly uncomfortable, arrangement of his arms and legs.

“What’s so scary about a doctor?” Time asked earnestly.

“ _Dentist_ ,” Tarrant corrected.

“And?”

“ _And_ they have all these sharp instruments and loud machines and syringes and it _hurts_.”

Time considered this. “But you’re already in pain. Wouldn’t you rather have the problem fixed and done with?”

“No!” Tarrant cried insistently. Then he winced, sucking in a harsh, painful breath.

“Well, I would,” Time said. He made to stand up, carefully sliding Tarrant back to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Tarrant asked.

“To locate a dentist.”

“Mirana?” Tarrant said hopefully. Time gave him a blank look. “The White Queen?”

Time forcibly crushed his discomfort at the mention of queens of any color. “She’s a dentist?”

“Sometimes,” Tarrant said meekly.

“Very well,” Time said. “I shall send for Mirana.”

 

\--

 

“Sending for Mirana” mostly seemed to entail yelling for Wilkins to do all the work and then resuming his seat to continue his attempts to soothe the Hatter.

“Really, it won’t be that bad,” Time was saying for the millionth time, probably, when Mirana walked in.

“I lost track of your little metal fellow,” she said apologetically.

Tarrant squeaked and tried to hide behind Time while sitting on top of him, with the result that they both fell out of the chair.

Time landed on his feet and pulled Tarrant up by the armpits like a disobedient cat, fixing him with a stern look. To Mirana, he said, “Hello, your majesty.”

“Just Mirana is fine,” she said, waving her hands airily. “Now what seems to be the problem?”

Time looked at Tarrant. Tarrant looked at Time. Time sighed. “Tarrant has…” he paused, trying to find the appropriate words. “A tooth problem?”

“No I don’t,” Tarrant said meekly, fidgeting with his hat.

“Yes, he does.”

“Does that chair recline?” Mirana asked suddenly, nodding across the room.

Time squinted at it. “Yes, it does.”

“Hatter!” Mirana clapped her hands. “Sit down please.”

“I don’t want to,” Tarrant said pleadingly, his eyes already filling up with tears.

“I’m just going to take a look, I promise.”

Tarrant started to cry in earnest, surprising both Time and Mirana, who just looked at each other for a moment. They seemed to come to a wordless agreement: Time wrapped his arms around the Hatter and Mirana started to talk.

“Really, Tarrant, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I’ll ask your permission before I do _anything_. I just need you to sit down. Can you do that for me?”

The Hatter nodded shakily but didn’t move.

“Allow me,” Time said and, without much fanfare, scooped up Tarrant and had him reclined in the chair before he could so much as kick his legs in protest.

Mirana picked up the bag she’d brought with her and walked over. “Now, I’m just going to take a look.” She held up a small mirror and a light for Tarrant to see. “Open up, please.”

Tarrant cast his eyes nervously around the room as if looking for a last-minute escape and, finding none, complied. Time squeezed his hand reassuringly.

Mirana got to work, murmuring to herself occasionally as she manipulated the mirror.

After a few minutes, she stood up straight again. “Looks like a basic fracture. I can fix that right away.”

Tarrant pulled back like he was trying to disappear into the chair’s upholstery. “Will it hurt?”

Mirana gently took his hand. “There might be a little bit of discomfort, but I promise you I’ll do everything I can to minimize that.”

She smiled and Tarrant couldn’t help but notice her own perfect teeth as she did so, each one as white as Mirana’s dress.

He nodded shakily. Time pulled up an ottoman and took the Hatter’s hand.

Mirana bent over her bag and got to work.

 

Even before she’d really done anything, Tarrant had started to tremble. When she asked him to open his mouth so she could apply something she called “etchant,” he complied wordlessly, but when she started to apply it, tears began to leak from his eyes.

Time noticed and brushed them away. “It’s okay, _Liebling_ ,” he said softly. “It’ll be over before you know it. Then you can help me with those watches, hm?”

Tarrant nodded almost imperceptibly, afraid of ruining Mirana’s work. Time kissed his hand and continued talking softly.

“I’m going to apply the bonding agent now,” Mirana said brightly.

Tarrant’s eyes widened in fear, so Time took the liberty of asking, “Will that hurt?”

“Not at all! It’s going to create a mechanical bond between both edges of the crack.” Seeing the confused looks on Time and Tarrant’s faces, she mimed pushing her hands together and clarified, “Like a hug!”

This made Tarrant smile a bit, so she took her chance to gently brush on the bonding agent. “It might feel a little strange, but it shouldn’t be painful.”

Sure enough, Tarrant twitched at the unfamiliar sensation of cold liquid pooling down the crack in his premolar. Once the shock wore off, he lay still, his eyes darting nervously around the room. Time was too far to the side for Tarrant to get a good look at him, so he squeezed Time’s hand and was pleased to receive another kiss in return.

As Mirana put still more mysterious substances on his tooth, occasionally beaming a harsh blue light on them, he realized that, if his entire body wasn’t so stiff with fear, this could almost, _almost_ be considered slightly boring.

But every subtle twitch of Mirana’s hands, every unfamiliar sensation in his mouth made his heart flutter. Every so often, Time would brush a stray tear from his cheek and only then would Tarrant realize he’d been crying.

 

_Finally_ Mirana stepped back and beamed at them. “Done!”

“Done?” Tarrant repeated cautiously. Mirana didn’t stop him, so he sat up and poked at his teeth with his finger. The composite felt smooth, unfamiliar against the natural peaks of his other teeth, but nothing hurt. He repeated the process with his tongue, frowning in concentration. Like before, the sensation was strange, but painless. He returned Mirana’s beaming smile as relief flooded him. “Thank you!” He opened his arms for a hug and she accepted, holding him tight.

“Is there anything in particular we need to do now?” Time asked once they’d separated. “You know like… Staying away from sweets--” Tarrant gasped “--or anything like that?”

Mirana smiled and shook her head. “Nothing like that.” She turned to Tarrant. “Just brush your teeth twice a day and try not to chew on anything hard.”

“Like paintbrushes with metal handles?” Time asked, giving Tarrant a significant look.

“I don’t do that!” Tarrant protested.

“My dear, you have the worst oral fixation I’ve ever seen. Even some of your colored felt has teeth marks in it.”

Tarrant seemed genuinely surprised. “ _Really_? That explains… Quite a bit, actually.” He frowned. “Hmm…”

Mirana patted him on the shoulder. “Let me know if it starts to hurt again or if you have any other questions. I’ll leave you two alone.” Time started to rise, but she dismissed him with a gentle wave of her hand. “I can see myself out. Besides.” She nodded at Tarrant, who was already looking distressed at the idea of being left alone. “He needs you.” She smiled and swept out of the room, leaving Tarrant and Time alone with the gently smoldering fire.

“Are you alright, _Schatz_?” Time asked, perching on the armrest of Hatter’s chair and pulling him close. “You were so brave.”

“Was I?” Tarrant asked, looking delighted. He sighed happily and nuzzled into Time’s side. He looked up. “Can I help you with those watches now? I know you hate being late.”

“And I know how you love to help me.” Time bent over and gave him a bunny kiss, brushing their noses together. Then he hopped off the armrest and scooped up Tarrant bridal style. “Alright! Back to the workshop.”

Tarrant started to laugh as they set off down the hall.

“What is it?” Time asked, pausing for a moment.

“ _You_ might be late,” Tarrant giggled, “but I’m right on Time!”

“Walk, then,” Time said, pretending to drop Tarrant.

Tarrant clung to his neck and laughed harder, all traces of his earlier distress completely forgotten.

“Time,” he said once he’d recovered his breath.

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

Time smiled and pressed a kiss to Tarrant’s forehead. “Anything for you, my love.”

**Author's Note:**

> Before You Comment: As this was a commission, I would like to keep feedback limited to the person who paid me. I do care what you have to say, but as far as critiquing my medical/dental accuracy, I did my research. Everything I included, exaggerated, or left out was very much intentional and done with the interest of storytelling in mind.  
> Thank you!


End file.
